[trip-list] Two passes. One hundred miles.

[drewish@katherinehouse.com]

ANDERSON, CA 07/31/02 - It wasn't quite the early start I was hopeing for but by 07:15 I managed to get off and up out. Fortunatly the road was at the bottom of a canyon following the Trinity River so it stayed shady. I was able to pick up 20 miles by 09:00 while it was still cool. 
I stopped at a market in Big Bar for my morning coffee and donut and found three cyclists sitting out front. They'd ridden from Corvallis, OR, out to the coast then down to Arcata and were headed to Redding, CA. I was blown away to meet some other cyclists on this bit of road. I can count on one hand the times I've I run into touring cyclists that aren't following Adventure Cycling's maps. Seeing them relying on their whits and a map they'd torn out of a weekly (I had to do after loosing my map in Susanville) was refreshing. Chatting a bit I discovered they'd also had the same problems with water the day before. They rode on and I got my cup of coffee. I ended up passing them a few miles down while they were pulled of fixing something but they caught up with me when I stopped for a drink in Junction City. We started to ride out together but one of them had gotten a flat so I rode on alone. 

I didn't know much about the topology of the ride other than that there was one big pass, Buckhorn Summit 3213ft, between me and Redding. I'd hit two big but unmarked passes the day before, they both had long climbs followed by long descents, not a promising sign. I started the long pull out of town and began having flashbacks to a similar hill on the way out of Austin, NV on US-50. Same distracting heat, steep winding curves, lack of shade, lack of shoulder, and abundance of motor homes and trucks. It was steep enough people had left jugs of water along the top for over heating cars. I tried to determine if it would be ethical to pour one over my head to cool off. At the top some construction project was in full swing. I talked to the flagman. His news wasn't good, I'd clear this pass then drop back down before starting up the Buckhorn, you might say that this was just the warmup. The ride down was nice but as I was too distracted thinking about every foot I was dropping wa!
s another I'd have to regain later.

I ate lunch at some hippy run Mexican resturaunt. From that description I'm sure you can imagine the overly health and environmentally concious but amazingly bland burrito I had. The lesson is don't buy Mexican food from hippies, especially white hippies. Go find a real tacoria that's being operated out of a van. Anyways.

The second pass was longer but much more plesant. It was longer but parts were shaded. Once I got in a zone I really didn't notice much until I saw the 3000 ft sign. The downhill was spectacular, I had 2500 feet to drop over the 20 miles to Redding. There were winding banked turns I got to take at the same speed as traffic. I passed a lake and the temptation was too much, I guiltily spent 10 minutes swimming. Getting into Redding was a relief. I bought a sandwich and bottle of beer to celebrate then pumped out another 10 miles to make sure I could claim the century. The schedule can still be made. 

andrew

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